Ideas and Mushy Pancakes

I woke up this morning anticipating culinary genius and soon after ended up making dense mushy banana pancakes. It's good to keep myself humble, I suppose.

At any rate, I've been toying with ideas of adding uncommon herbs and spices to desserts - I recently read an article praising a dessert for their pairing of dark chocolate and cilantro. Say what?! Sounds incredible, I know. My idea is to keep things simple and attempt to pair things that normally wouldn't mesh well in peoples minds. What those pairings are as of this point, I don't know. I do know that anise will be a part of something fantastic - not only do I love the taste and smell but a star anise is so appealing to look at. It would be fun to incorporate that into a garnish and/or plating design.

After a few days off, I will be heading back to work tomorrow. Apparently it is supposed to be incredibly busy with proms and other large events - will more than likely make for a rough couple of days with long hours - wouldn't have it any other way. ;)